Court Rules Dungeons and Dragons Threatens Prison Security 353
KermodeBear writes "Dungeons and Dragons — originally Satan's Game — has now been found to encourage gang-like behavior. In a finding by a three judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, D&D 'can mimic the organization of gangs and lead to the actual development thereof.' From the ruling: 'during D&D games, one player is denoted the "Dungeon Master." 'The Dungeon Master is tasked with giving directions to other players, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a gang.'"
Re:Usual Slashdot Timeliness (Score:4, Interesting)
To be fair, it seems Fox News is the culprit this time (well, editors could have noticed the dupe but really that would be going a bit above what I've come to expect from them). The Fox News article is dated yesterday, Jan 26, 2011; the sources that they reference are dated Jan 26, 2010. So yeah, pretty much exactly a year old, probably someone searching for a topic entered the wrong date on their criteria and we end up with a year old dupe on the front page.
Pac-Man ruined my life (Score:5, Interesting)
Got me into eating small white pills. And don't even get me started on "candy"-land. And Battleship? I heard it trains terrorists on how to sink ships.
Honestly, they can find the most ridiculous things to try and turn something harmless into a big deal. D&D is not what created gangs. Gangs create gangs. And they certainly aren't running around screaming "lightning bolt" and talking about going into unexplored caves to find treasure out on the streets. This is beyond hilarious for anyone who has any kind of knowledge of both D&D and gang-related activities.
haha (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Satan's Game? (Score:5, Interesting)
Never saw Mazes and Monsters or saw news (hysteria really) from the 80's about D&D?
My parents almost made me see a psychiatrist over that crap until my brother and I sat my Mom down and made her play a game with us. We interspersed the play with quips about how it was encouraging us to read, expanding our vocabulary and working our imagination in ways that TV and Video Games never could.
Can't say I specifically remember "Satan's Game" but doesn't sound far off...
Wait, is this one of those whooosh moments? Sorry, nm.
Can't help but be reminded of an old quote (Score:4, Interesting)
A midshipman at the US Naval Academy was asked what the difference was between being in the Navy or a gang. He thought for a moment and said, "we have uniforms". It was the Washington Post, IIRC, and for all I know it may have been fabricated by the same reporter who wrote "Jimmy's World, the story of a 9 year old heroin addict".
It still has a ring of truth to it though.
So yeah, every social order is gang if you want to look at it that way. Did any of these people making the call actually, you know, check to see if DD players in prison were getting into more trouble, or less trouble?